Working Out
by Marista
Summary: Why do all the girls feel the need to be in the courtyard when a certain firebender is working out shirtless?


Zuko just finished up his personal workout, being finished training the Avatar for the day

A/N: A fun little Zutara fluff story. I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Avatar is not mine, but I wish it was.

Zuko just finished up his personal workout, he had trained with the Avatar earlier and needed an additional workout for himself. He enjoyed stretching out his muscles and getting rid of the excess energy that would surface as a bad temper if he wasn't careful. He grabbed a piece of cloth and began to wipe away the sweat as he sat down by the fountain.

He saw Aang walking by with a basket full of moon peaches. "Hey Aang, can I get one of those?"

The Avatar looked at him and glared a bit before bringing over his harvest.

"It's Ok. You don't have to give me one of yours. I'll go to the tree myself later."

"No Sifu Hotman, you can have as many as you want" he replied with a slight attitude. "Lots of peaches, lots of women, whatever you like".

"Aang what are you talking about? What do moon peaches have to do with women? Besides I don't have any women."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah."

"What about your girlfriend Mai?"

"She's not my girlfriend anymore, remember that I broke up with her before I left. Besides she was pretty angry last time I saw her, she probably hates me, so I don't know if we will be getting back together."

"And Katara?"

"What about her?"

"So she's just a side girl until you find out how Mai feels?"

"What are you talking about. Katara and I aren't involved."

"Yeah right. You strut around here without your shirt all the time and you don't notice that every girl here is drooling over you."

"You're crazy."

"Look around you Zuko. You think there's a crowd every time you work out because it's entertaining. I only wanted one girl, just one. And she won't consider me because you're here. And I don't care how much Suki hangs off of Sokka's arm. If you gave her the time of day she would drop Sokka like a bad habit."

"Well if what your saying is true, which it's not… what you do you want me to do about it? You want me to stop working out?"

"No, of course not."

"So it's settled."

"Well, maybe you could workout by the river out of the public eye?"

"If these girls are so intent on seeing me, don't you think they'd walk to the river?"

"Well maybe…"

"Enough. You're being ridiculous. Let's just settle this so we can move on." The Prince took a step back and called out "KATARA".

"What are you doing?" Aang whispered sharply as the waterbender walked over.

"I'm proving you're wrong."

"Hey guys."

"Hey Katara." Zuko started. "I've got a question for you."

"Ok" she replied suspiciously.

"Do you wanna date me?" he asked nonchalantly.

"Huh?"

"You know date me. Do you wanna be my girlfriend?"

Katara just stood there looking at him.

He just smiled smugly knowing that he'd just won the argument with Aang.

"Come on baby, give me a big kiss." He said with open arms.

As he stood there waiting for Katara to start laughing or have some other kind of negative reaction, it was as if something just snapped inside of her.

Before Zuko knew it his arms were full of waterbender and she was giving him a deep, wet kiss. His eyes were wide with surprise at first, and then he allowed himself to melt into the kiss. Aang just stood there, all of his moon peaches now on the ground and he was starting to turn several shades of red. As he was about to storm off when Katara finally ended the kiss.

"I can't believe this, I'm so happy." She turned and looked at Aang. "And you were here as a witness, so I know you both talked about this, and your fine with it." She was so much on cloud nine, she didn't even notice that Aang was upset. She threw her arms around him and hugged him. "Thank you Aang."

She walked back to Zuko who was still doe eyed from the first kiss and she pecked him on the cheek. "I have to go tell the girls. Boy is Suki going to be mad."

"Why would Suki be mad?"

"Because she was hoping you might be interested in her."

"But she's dating Sokka!"

"If you had said the word, she would have dropped him like a hot rock." She gave him one more blissful smile and took off back towards the others.

Silence hung in the air for a moment.

"Aang, I'm so sorry. I really thought she would laugh in my face. I had no idea."

"You got her. She's completely yours and you didn't even have to do anything, you didn't even try and now she's your girlfriend. Now you have two girlfriends. You heard about Suki, why don't you ask her and make it three. I know, how about a royal harem. I'm sure Toph would take you even though she can't see you."

"I already told you that Mai hates me. As for Katara we can fix that right now. I'll tell that I was only kidding."

"You'd do that?"

"I don't want to, but if it means preserving our friendship, I'll do it. But it better be quick, before this gets out of hand."

Zuko called Katara back again and this time she came over with a purposeful step. Her face bright and full of joy. As she smiled at Zuko he felt something awaken in him, he realized that he really would like to be with her.

"What's up" she said as smiled at Aang and quickly started to close the gap between her and Zuko's personal space. Zuko took a step back and held his hand up.

Aang was in turmoil because he wanted Zuko to follow through and tell her the truth. He wanted Katara to feel the hurt of rejection that he was feeling at that very moment. But he realized he loved her enough that he wanted to spare her unnecessary pain.

Zuko looked deeply into her eyes and then looked away "Katara, I need to tell you…"

Aang quickly broke in "He needs to tell you that he can't take you anywhere special until after the war is over."

"Oh, of course not. We're on the run, there's no way we could go out anywhere. But we'll be happy together here right?"

Zuko looked at Aang a bit confused and simply answered "right."

Katara gave him a quick hug and turned to go back to Suki and continue their girl talk.

"Why did you change your mind?"

"The look on her face, she looks so happy and I can't take that away from her. But my real question is how do you feel about her Zuko? If you don't feel anything, then please let her down after a few days, don't lead her on."

"Aang, I do have some feelings for her. They're definitely not as strong as hers, but I'd like to explore the relationship with her."

"I love her Zuko. But I want to see her happy."

"Thanks Aang. And I'll try to make my workouts private from now on."

"What's the point? The damage has already been done. You already have what I wanted."

"I guess you're right. For what's it's worth, I really am sorry."

"It's alright." The avatar picked up his glider and soared off to places unknown to grieve his loss. Zuko did genuinely feel sorry for Aang, and as he walked back towards the group the smile Katara gave him completely washed all his bad feelings away.


End file.
